Helicopters may help clean up Lake Champlain

Helicopters might not be the first thing you think of when discussing how to keep Lake Champlain cleaner, but they might be part of a solution.

The Lake Champlain Basin Program is offering $100,000 to the contractor that comes up with the best plan to spread cover crop seeds from the air.

The project will target fields that are prone to erosion and runoff, like corn-fields that don't have a root system to retain the soil.

"It's very vulnerable after a winter of freezing and a spring of thawing, when the rains come in the spring if there's no root network in the soil it can erode, and those sediment particles carry nutrients with them and we get too much sediment and nutrients in the water," said Lake Champlain Basin Program Executive Director Bill Howland.

That nutrient-rich runoff can help foster heavy blue-green algae blooms, and make the lake murkier.

The idea behind the grant is to plant a cover crop like rye, wheat or some other grain that will establish a root system and hold the soil in place. The hope is that seeding from the air will be quicker, easier and possibly cheaper to cover some of the hard to reach places.

"What's really good about this idea is that even the most challenging access areas -- even if the water is high and the soil is muddy -- a helicopter can get those seeds in there," said Howland.

The cover crop would grow right along with the primary crop. Scientists said if this works, it could be a huge step toward fighting one of the biggest, most challenging sources of runoff into Lake Champlain.

The project could be carried out in either New York or Vermont, in an impaired watershed. The program aims to cover about 1,500 acres. Scientists will document how well the aerial seeding works.

Proposals are due Jan. 18, and the Basin Program will choose a winner by March.

Seeding could begin in August.

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